12-month sleep regression and how to breeze past it

Your sweet baby who was once sleeping great or at least letting you get some decent zzzz’s overnight…all of a sudden starts waking up at night, skipping naps or having short naps and you cannot for the life of you get them to fall asleep anymore!

Maybe this is the time to drop to one nap you think to yourself?

Let me stop you there and lovingly help you off the ledge.

Don’t drop that nap! Let’s talk about what the 12-month regression is and how to navigate it properly.

Here’s what you need to know…

What is the 12-month regression?

This regression is like all the others - Development-physical like crawling, standing, walking or cognitive- like language and figuring out they are an independent little person! Separation anxiety is also peaking at this age and all of these bursts of development put together is a recipe for the dreaded 12-month regression characterized by:

https://www.lilbabysleep.ca/early-mornings-mini-course

https://www.lilbabysleep.ca/early-mornings-mini-course

  • Skipping naps

  • Short naps (45 min)

  • early mornings

  • waking up at 3 am or multiple times a night

  • crying at bedtime

Why is this regression so hard? because your little one can be rather insistent on what they want and vocalize that pretty well (cue the screams).

This makes us parents doubt ourselves and try everything under the sun to just get them to sleep. Sound familiar?

“I feel like I’ve regressed and don’t know how to fix it” - Steph C.

This is what Steph told me before we started working together. Her son didn’t have the best sleep before but it was decent. Now all of a sudden she felt like she was going backwards.

The thing is that when your little one doesn’t have strong sleep skills, to begin with, it can make regressions worse and permanent. So we got her a solid plan with exactly what to do when it happened. So she wasn’t panicking and doing anything & everything but now doing the RIGHT thing that worked to settle her son.

I showed her how to handle any blips by going back to her plan, always!

Now: “Just wanted to let you know that we are sleeping better than ever. Most of all, I feel like I’m no longer scared of regressions because I know he is rested and what to do.”

Here is what to do…and what NOT to do.

DO NOT drop the 1st nap - I promise you in most cases it’s not time.

Nap refusals are expected!

Continue to offer the nap and put your little one down at the same time. At least for 30 minutes, if they do not sleep it’s okay. Keep offering and if you want to try a stroller nap or nap-on-the go that’s cool. Sometimes I get daycares to do this and it works like a charm.

The nap does come back after a week or two. BUT, if you begin changing it up or assisting then it makes it longer and more difficult.

I promise it will pass! STAY CONSISTENT!

I know, I know, easier said than done. Staying consistent at 3 am is the ultimate test of patience.

I promised that consistency pays off but if you change the way you respond, it will change the expectations for sleep and toddlers love to push boundaries if they have experienced something else before.

Sometimes it can seem easier to just help them along but it’s going to cement wake-ups and change expectations in the long run so it’s a long-term game.

Feel free to calm, comfort and be there as much as you want but NOT put or assist to sleep.

You can still be responsive and calm or comfort without actually putting your baby to sleep. This is especially the case during separation anxiety, your presence in the room might be soothing. This might mean you sit in a chair and mimic sleep for a few nights but if you do something like hold, rock, bring baby to your bed, then you should expect to continue to need to do it long term.

I teach parents how to respond while still allowing our little ones to put themselves to sleep, especially during these hard times.

The most important thing is that you have a plan that everyone is on board with and that you have the support to get you through any bumps in the road, so you feel confident and happy with your approach.

Book a 30-minute call with me to chat about how to get you sleeping once and for all! Even during the bumps…toddlerhood here we come!

Lil xx

Your Sleep Consultant

 
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